Hindu flight from Pakistan 'a
conspiracy' By Zofeen Ebrahim
KARACHI - Narain Das, a cloth merchant
from Jacobabad in northern Pakistan, blesses his
lucky stars that he has three sons, aged 18, 16
and 12. "If they were daughters, I, too, would
seriously be thinking of migrating from here," he
reflects on the lack of protection his community
faces.
"Abduction, rape and coerced
conversion of our daughters, extortion,
blackmailing and kidnapping of businessmen for
ransom" are some of the reasons given by former
legislator and chairman of the Pakistan Hindu
Council, Ramesh Kumar Vankwani, for a recent
exodus of the Hindu community to India.
Hindus form 1.7% of Pakistan's population
of 180 million. Muslim Odhano, a Muslim rights
activist from Jacobabad, has been
observing a huge
migration trend of Hindus from Sindh province -
where the city is located - over the past four to
five years.
"It's not just the Hindus,
even Muslims are continuously harassed by people
from the Jakhrani tribe which is carrying out
looting, extortion and dacoity [banditry]
here. But Hindus are facing a double whammy,
because their daughters are not safe here and are
being kidnapped and forcibly converted to Islam,"
he told IPS over the phone from Jacobabad.
Odhano said the Jakhranis enjoyed complete
impunity because of their political affiliation to
the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party. The posting of
the police is done with the consent of the
legislator, who is also from the tribe. "There is
a complete breakdown of the law and order
situation here," he said.
Minority
communities in Pakistan are facing increased
discrimination and harassment, to the extent that
many are fleeing their country.
Early last
week, the English language daily Express Tribune
reported that 60 Hindu families comprising 200-250
people, from southern Balochistan and Sindh
provinces, were leaving the country on the pretext
of pilgrimage and seeking asylum in India, on the
grounds of religious persecution in Pakistan.
Dismissing the news, Interior Minister
Rehman Malik called the migration a "conspiracy to
defame Pakistan". He said the Indian High
Commission would be called upon to give reasons
for issuing visas in such huge numbers. In
addition, he said minorities could not leave the
country without the permission of his ministry.
While there has been little recognition of
the problem by authorities, there is even less
indignation from the nation as a whole.
"There is no outrage because Pakistan has
passed into the hands of intolerant bigots," I A
Rehman, secretary general of the Human Rights
Commission of Pakistan, told IPS. He talked about
"the death of the nation and its replacement with
a herd of bloodthirsty morons".
Mukesh
Rupeta, a Hindu journalist based in Jacobabad,
said he had bid farewell to as many as "a hundred
Hindu families migrating to India in the last
year". He added, however, that the problems faced
by the Hindus had been brewing for over a decade.
His three brothers and two sisters have already
migrated to Indore, in India.
"Most
Pakistani Hindus are tight-lipped about leaving,
so they go on the pretext of pilgrimage. Once
there, they either seek asylum or get their visas
extended. In the next 15 years, they can
eventually get citizenship," he said.
It
is not easy to migrate, he said, but the Hindus
are left with little choice. "It can take a good
five years to settle, but people say they at least
have found peace of mind that their family is
safe."
Former legislator Vankwani said
many of those migrating belonged to the more
affluent business class, who were easy prey for
kidnappers and extortionists because of weak
security and because they had little political and
administrative clout.
"Despite being
highly educated and well-qualified Hindu doctors,
engineers and business graduates, they find it
difficult to land top jobs," said Sanjeev Kumar,
who heads the Karachi-based Pakistan Hindu Seva, a
non-governmental organization that promotes
education among less privileged Hindu families.
Rupeta pointed out that while there are
Hindu judges and even a few doctors in the armed
forces, there are fewer Hindus in top-ranking
jobs. "They do not get the positions they deserve
on merit."
The community was also shaken
by the recent kidnapping of 11 Hindu traders from
Balochistan and Sindh, seven of whom have now been
recovered.
Vankwani recalled the years
between 1989 and 1991, when Hindus were
persecuted. "Thousands left for India, but
returned when the situation was under control.
Something similar is happening now." He was,
however, not sure that they would return this
time.
The news of the exodus of Hindus
this month was followed closely by the abduction,
conversion and marriage of 14-year old Manisha
Kumari to a Muslim boy last week.
The
Human Rights Commission of Pakistan had earlier
noted the worrisome increase in kidnappings of
Hindu girls who are then coerced into embracing
Islam. Motumal Amarnath, a senior lawyer with the
Commission, told IPS that at least 20 to 25 Hindu
girls are abducted each month and converted to
Islam.
But he said he was not sure that
the reports of mass migration were accurate.
"I have made enquiries, and while there
may have been a few cases, I have been unable to
confirm the names or addresses of the people who
have left," he told IPS. "We are Pakistanis first,
and this is our motherland. We would never leave.
Times are bad for all of us - including Ahmadis
and Shi'ite [Muslims]."
"The Jacobabad
story may have been exaggerated," Rehman, the
secretary general of the commission, told IPS.
Nevertheless, "there have been persistent reports
that Hindus in Sindh and Balochistan are fleeing
from Pakistan or are being frightened into
migrating, and the trend is unmistakable."
The commission said in a press statement
that the migration was a reflection of the state's
failure to save its citizens from violence,
discrimination and excesses such as forced
conversion of young women. It urged civil society
organizations and the media to keep the "spotlight
firmly trained on the raw deal these communities"
were getting.
"Ahead of the forthcoming
elections, the political parties also have an
opportunity, through their manifestos, and more
than that through their actions now, to articulate
their vision for religious minorities in
Pakistan," the commission stated.
Without
naming anyone in particular, commission lawyer
Amarnath said there were some "religio-political
groups, in cahoots with intelligence agencies" who
were creating a sense of insecurity among the
Hindu community.
He also pointed to vested
interests that might profit from the migration of
affluent Hindus by laying claim to their property,
"just like some did with the evacuee property in
1947" - when India and Pakistan became separate
states.
While it is not yet clear if the
families who have gone on the pretext of
pilgrimage will return to Pakistan once their
visas expire, the situation has brought into sharp
focus the underlying sense of insecurity that has
beset the Hindu community.
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